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THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 


CHARLES R. ERDMAN 


BY CHARLES R. ERDMAN 


The Lord We Love 

The Gospel of John, an Exposition 
The Gospel of Matthew 

The Gospel of Mark 

The General Epistles 

The Acts 

The Gospel of Luke 

The Pastoral Epistles of Paul 

The Epistle to the Romans 
Coming to the Communion 

The Return of Christ 

Within the Gateways of the Far East 
The Work of the Pastor 


<< OFP RINGER 
Oy 


MAP 14 19, Ae 
THE x is 
LOL ogienL SEAS 


SPIRIT OF CHRIST 


Devotional Studies in the 
Doctrine of the Holy Spirit 






BY 
CHARLES R..ERDMAN 


PROFESSOR OF PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY, PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 





NEw BY york 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 1926, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 
weal I age 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


TO 


THOSE RARE AND RADIANT SOULS 
WHOSE YIELDED LIVES 
REVEAL THE GLORY 
OF THEIR UNSEEN LORD 


yee es ne 
Pei: NA I, 


. he! 
(ie i ea * 


229, 





CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 


THE ABIDING PRESENCE 5 2 3) ar 
II ANOTHER COMFORTER. ... .. 25 
Mie BILLED: WITH. THE SPIRIT 2030 36 
MDE ERCOST aint, uae un iw aay Be 
V THE INSPIRED SCRIPTURES . . 75 


Mee beiobikil AND THE CHURCH % 8 
VII THE SPIRIT AND THE'WORLD. . 107- 


vi 





1: The Abiding Presence 


“Ye are not mm the flesh, but in the Spirit, of 
so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. 

“But tf any man hath not the Spirit of 
Christ, he 1s none of his. 

“And if Christ 1s nm you, the body 1s dead 
because of sin; but the spirit is life because of 
righteousness.” 


Romans 8:9, 10. REVISED VERSION. 


“The Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.” 
Acts 16: 7. REVISED VERSION. 


“The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” 
Philippians 1: 19. REVISED VERSION. 


“Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth 
the Spirit of hts Son into your hearts, crying, 
Galatians 4: 6. 


I: The Abiding Presence 


A follower of Christ should be expected to 
manifest in some degree the moral temper of 
his Master. One notably lacking in gentleness 
and courage, in sympathy and strength, in 
purity and love will hardly be classified as a 
Christian. We may as well apply this test to 
ourselves. God does; the world surely will. 

A man may recite an orthodox creed and be- 
lieve it, and yet be self-deceived as to his rela- 
tion to Christ; he may be a defender of the 
faith, compassing sea and land to make prose- 
lytes, and yet be a Pharisee; “the devils believe 
and tremble.” On the other hand, a real be- 
liever follows Christ, obeys Christ and reflects 
the character of Christ. 

All this is true; yet Paul meant more than 
this, at least something other than this, when 
he wrote “if any man hath not the Spirit of 
Christ, he is none of his.” The apostle was re- 
ferring, not to the moral temper, but to the 


spiritual Presence of Christ. He was not pro- 
II 


i The Spirit of Christ 


posing a test of sincerity, but stating a fact of 
experience. He was reminding his readers of 
the familiar but arresting truth, that, with 
every believer, there is always present an un- 
seen divine Person, the Spirit of God, the Com- 
forter, the Spirit of Christ. By necessity such 
a Presence does affect the moral temper ; such a 
Companion must mold the character; such a 
Being will affect the life; yet it is upon a Cause 
rather than on its effect that Paul fixes our 
thought. We first need to be assured of this 
abiding Presence, and then we shall be pre- 
pared to consider and to experience his power. 

That by his Spirit he would abide continually 
with each of his disciples was the specific 
promise of our Lord. On the evening he was 
leaving them for the cross, the tomb and the 
throne, he consoled them with words like these: 
“Tf ye love me, keep my commandments. And 
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you an- 
other Comforter, that he may abide with you 
for ever; even the Spirit of truth... . I will 
not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 
... At that time ye shall know that I am in 
my Father, and ye in me, and I in you... . If 
a man love me, he will keep my words: and my 


The Abiding Presence 13 


Father will love him, and we will come and 
make our abode with him.” 

The presence of a Spirit, who was one with 
the Father and the Son, was to be their comfort 
and hope. Thus, during the forty days after 
his resurrection triumph, Christ appeared to 
his disciples frequently and at most unexpected 
times and places, at night in the closed upper 
room, at sunrise by the sea, on the road as they 
were walking from the holy city, on a mountain 
in Galilee; he was teaching them that, as he 
might appear to them at any time and in any 
place, henceforth he would be with them at all 
times and in every place, according to his prom- 
ise, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
end of the world.” 

Such too became the teaching of his apostles. 
John assured his fellow-believers that the very 
beginning of a Christian life is due to the 
power of this divine Spirit, so that one who 
receives Christ as Lord and Master is “born 
anew,” or “born from above,’ or “born of 
God,” or ‘“‘born of the Spirit.” 

Paul declared that ‘no man can say, Jesus is 
Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.” And even to 
those factious, frail and inconstant Corinthians 


14. The Spirit of Christ 


he could say, “Know ye not that your body is 
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, 
which ye have of God?” He also reminded 
them that while we may have diverse gifts and 
are men of differing races and blood, yet “by 
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be 
bond or free.” According to Paul, to speak of 
a Christian as not having the presence of the 
Holy Spirit is a contradiction in terms. 

Such too was the experience of the early 
believers. When on a single day three thou- 
sand souls were converted, then, immediately, 
as Peter had predicted, they were all filled with 
the Holy Spirit, they were brought under his 
power and control and he became for them an 
abiding Presence. 

So, too, when a large company of Gentiles 
had gathered in the home of Cornelius, the 
Centurion, at Caesarea, to hear the Gospel 
message from the lips of the apostle, even while 
Peter was preaching, the hearers believed the 
message and “the Holy Spirit fell on all them 
which heard the word.” 

Subsequently Paul had a significant experi- 
ence at Ephesus. He found certain “disciples” 


The Abiding Presence hg 


who lacked all manifestations of spiritual life. 
Being puzzled by their conduct, the apostle 
asked them as to their faith, and found that 
they were disciples of John the Baptist and 
never had heard of Christ’s death and resur- 
rection and of the new manifestation of his 
Spirit. Then Paul preached unto them the 
Good News concerning Christ, and “when they 
heard this, they were baptized into the name of 
the Lord Jesus, and . . . the Holy Spirit came 
on them.” 

Such too is the case to-day. When we yield 
ourselves to Christ as his disciples and follow- 
ers, his Spirit imparts to us new life. We are 
“born of the Spirit.” This life may be faint 
and feeble in its beginning; we are not born in 
full maturity; but by the Spirit we are de- 
veloped increasingly into the likeness of Christ. 
Even our first hesitant confession as we “call 
Jesus Lord” is declared to be by the power of 
“the Holy Spirit,’ and if, although by slow 
degrees, our characters are being transfigured, 
it is under the influence of this same gracious 
Spirit, for “we all, with unveiled face beholding 
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are trans- 


16 The Spirit of Christ 


formed into the same image from glory to 
glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.” 

We may have been unconscious of his pres- 
ence; we may have grieved him by our conduct; 
we may have disregarded his pleadings, yet he 
has not left us and he never will. 


Someone, however, may be saying, if this is 
true and if the Spirit continually abides with 
every follower of Christ, why are we encour- 
aged to pray that the Spirit may come? We 
know that for centuries Christians have been 
voicing the yearnings of their hearts in hymns 
like these: 

“Come, O Creator Spirit blest, 
And in our souls take up thy rest; 


Come, with Thy grace and heavenly ad 
To fill the hearts which Thou hast made.” 


“Come, Holy Spirtt, heavenly Dove, 
With all Thy quickening powers; 
Come, shed abroad a Saviour’s love, 
And that shall kindle ours.” 


If the Spirit already is present, why pray for 
his coming? The explanation is not difficult. 
In these prayers and hymns we are using 
proper and Scriptural figures of speech by 
which we express our desire, not that an absent 


The Abiding Presence 17 


One may approach us, but that a present One 
may help us; we do not ask the Holy Spirit to 
change his location in space, but to grant a new 
manifestation in time. He is present and even 
helping us as we pray or sing. The beautiful 
hymn by Croly begins: 

“Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;” 


But the fourth stanza reads: 


“Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh.” 


There is no contradiction here. The desire is 
that the Spirit who is ever present may grant 
us anew his gracious influence to make us pa- 
tient and holy and loving, and to take away 
“the dimness of our souls.” 

The spiritual presence of Christ is not the 
peculiar privilege of some favored circle; it is 
not the prerogative of saints and of apostles 
and of prophets, nor is it assured only to minis- 
ters of religion and to public servants of the 
church. 

Our sphere in life may be obscure, our tal- 
ents few, our burdens crushing, our disappoint- 
ments bitter, our struggles severe, but we are 
not standing alone. We are inspired and 
cheered by the belief that the Comforter has 


18 The Spirit of Christ 


come to abide with us forever, through all the 
days however bright or dreary. 


All this is easily said, for it is a common- 
place of Christian truth. By many it is 
readily believed, for they were taught it in 
youth and have experienced it in daily life; but 
for some of us the mysteries involved becloud 
our weak faith, and the vision grows dim; the 
divine Presence seems to have been withdrawn, 

In the light of certain modern teachings we 
look at the outer world and see a vast soulless 
machine; we look within, and thought and feel- 
ing and determination are resolved into chemi- 
cal or mechanical reactions; and we find our- 
selves in a lonely universe to which we cry de- 
spairingly, “Where is thy God?” 

Then we remember that a machine must have 
a Maker; and force and matter must have a 
First Cause; and conscience must have a Source 
of authority for its imperative demands. We 
review again the pages of revelation; we gaze 
in reverence upon the glory of the divine Man; 
we feebly pray and feel there must be some 
response; we trust and find new strength; the 
mists drift away; we see the Invisible and cry 


The Abiding Presence 19 


repentantly, trustfully, “My Lord, and my 
God.” 

The consciousness of a divine Presence may 
be elementary; but it is the ground and the sub- 
stance of all religious experience. 

“T will fear no evil; 
For Thou art with me.’ 
Need our confidence be more rich and full than 
this? 


-In some measure this consciousness is com- 
mon to men of all faiths; yet in its truest es- 
sence the experience of a Christian is unique. 
For us the Presence is one with that of our 
living Lord; it is the Spirit of the Son of God. 
Through all the mists of doubt, in spite of 
mysteries which baffle, we 


“See the Christ stand Ba 


As the glad Christmas-tide returns, this 
truth is impressed upon us anew; for we realize 
how, in Christ, God has drawn near to man 
and still draws near. He who was “conceived 
by the Holy Ghost,” and “born of the Virgin 
Mary,” is rightly called “Immanuel,” God with 
us; for even now when God is with us, then 


20 The Spirit of Christ 


Christ is with us, even our divine Saviour, in 
whose unseen Presence we rejoice. 

Or, as we follow the footsteps of the Master 
into the opening year and out through the 
thronged highways of life, touching with sym- 
pathy and help the struggling, the suffering, 
the sin-stricken, the distressed, as we lean on 
him for strength and venture much upon his 
grace, his Presence becomes so real that we 
can sing with the Huguenot poet: 


“T have a Friend so precious, 

So very dear to me, 

He loves me with such tender love, 
He loves so faithfully. 

I could not live apart from Hum, 
I love to feel Him nigh, 

And so we dwell together, 
My Lord and I.” 


We, however, need to form no mental image 
of this unseen Friend; we must not torment our 
minds too far by vain questions as to the mys- 
terious relation of the divine “Persons” in the 
“Trinity”; but we must believe as did Tenny- 
son, when he declared that Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit were as really present with him 
when he crossed the moor, as was the friend 
with whom he was walking, and as truly as 


The Abiding Presence 21 


Christ was with his disciples on the hills of 
Galilee. 


This consciousness of the divine Presence 
can be cultivated. We must not be discouraged 
if our spiritual sight is dim, but we must form 
the habit of remembering the promise, “I will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor urged believers to 
“practice the presence of God” by prayer and 
meditation and Christian fellowship and by 
dwelling upon His word. 

His contemporary was Brother Lawrence, a 
French foot soldier, who after his conversion 
served in a humble capacity in a monastery. 
He testified of so constantly thinking of his 
Lord that he realized his presence as truly 
when busied with the tasks of the kitchen as 
when kneeling to partake of the holy sacrament. 

Let us too practice the divine Presence; and, 
by the power of his Spirit, our Master will give 
us ever clearer visions of his glory as we walk 
through this world of semblances and shadows; 
and at last our joy will be full when we see 
him face to face. 


22 The Spirit of Christ 


“Still, still with Thee, when purple mornsng breaketh, 
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee; 

Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight, 
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee. 


“So shall it be at last, in that bright morning 
When the soul waketh, and life’s shadows flee; 
O! in that hour, more fair than daylight dawning, 
Shall rise the glorious thought I am with Thee.” 


II: Another Comforter 


Vem, Creator Spiritus, 
Menies tuorum visita, 
Imple superna gratia 
Ouae tu creastt pectora. 


Oui Paraclitus dicerts, 
Donum Dei aliissvma, 
Fons vivus, 1gms, charitas, 
Et spiritalis unctio. 
Hostem repellas longius 
Pacemque dones protimus, 
Ductore sic te praevio 
Vitemus omne noxvum. 
Heh 5 RY) ake A eve 
O Holy Ghost, Creator, come! 
Thy people’s minds pervade; 
And fill with thy supernal grace 
The souls which thou hast made. 


Thou who art called the Paraclete, 
The gift of God most high; 

Thou living fount, and fire, and love, 
Our spirit’s pure ally. 

Drive farther off our enemy, 
And straghtway give us peace; 

That, with thyself as such a guide, 
We may from evil cease. 


II: Another Comforter 


That was a significant phrase the Master 
used when giving to his disciples the promise 
of his abiding spiritual presence. He declared 
that his Spirit would be for them ‘Another 
Comforter.” 

Many other terms and symbols are employed 
in Scripture to define the Person and the office 
of the Holy Spirit; but none is more expressive 
than this, and more precious to the hearts of 
believers. Possibly, most familiar of all is the 
term “Holy Ghost”; but this is a rather un- 
fortunate phrase, as the word “ghost” has 
somewhat narrowed its meaning and commonly 
denotes a disembodied spirit wandering on 
earth. Then there are the titles, such as “The 
Spirit of God,” ‘“The Spirit of the living God,” 
“The Spirit of Christ,” “The Spirit of Jesus,” 
“The Spirit of his Son,” “The Eternal Spirit,” 
“The Lord the Spirit.” 

There are also such symbols of the Spirit as 


the Dove, the Wind, the Anointing Oil, th 
25 


26 The Spirit of Christ 


Seal, the Earnest, the First-fruits. The dove 
represented innocence, purity, gentleness and 
love. The wind was the symbol of an unseen, 
resistless Force, observable only in its effects. 
The anointing oil was poured upon the heads 
of prophets and priests and kings as a sign that 
divine grace and power would be given for the 
performance of their peculiar tasks; so Chris- 
tians are “anointed,” by the Spirit, and are 
given enlightenment and grace for the service 
of Christ. 

The seal signified, first of all, ownership; 
and Christians are “sealed by the Spirit,” they 
are marked as belonging to their divine Master. 
Then, further, the seal stamped an image 
upon the object owned; and believers by the 
influence of his Spirit are made to bear the like- 
ness of their Lord. Again, the seal was a sign 
of security, and the presence of the Holy Spirit 
is a guarantee that the Christian will be “kept 
by the power of God. through faith unto 
salvation.” 

An “earnest” was a part-payment, given as 
a pledge of the full amount yet to be paid; and 
the spiritual presence of Christ now granted to 
his followers is an assurance of that complete 


Another Comforter ay 


redemption of soul and body yet to be granted 
them at the appearing of their Lord. 

“First-fruits,” likewise, were an assurance 
of a coming harvest; and all the blessedness 
which Christ gives us now by his personal 
Presence, is but a foretaste of the glory to be 
“revealed to us-ward . . . who have the first- 
fruits of the Spirit.” 


All of these terms are suggestive; yet none 
has such depth of meaning as do the words of 
the Master, ‘Another Comforter,” for this 
phrase indicates a personal Presence, and a 
Presence inseparable from Christ; if another 
“Person,” yet the same Being. 

The word “Comforter,” translating the 
Greek “Paraclete,” or the Latin “Advocate,” 
signifies One who is called to the side of another 
to give him aid. Probably the best translation 
would be ‘Helper’; for a Comforter strictly 
means one who consoles, and an Advocate 
means one who pleads or counsels, and while 
consoling and pleading are precious and impor- 
tant parts of the work of the Spirit, they are 
only parts, for he abides with every follower of 


28 The Spirit of Christ 


Christ to help and strengthen and guide, in 
every conceivable experience of life. 

This is in fact the tremendous significance 
of the little word “Another.” In dwelling upon 
the beautiful term “Comforter,’ or “Para- 
clete,” or “Helper,” readers have been tempted 
to slight the word by which it is described and 
qualified and glorified. When Jesus declared 
that his Spirit was to be “Another Comforter,” 
he indicated that he himself had been The Com- 
forter, and now he was promising that he 
would do for his disciples by his spiritual pres- 
ence all that he had been doing for them and 
through them by his physical presence, only 
that he would do it on a larger scale and in 
wider spheres, so that he could say, referring to 
the mighty miracles he had been working, 
“Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believ- 
eth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, 
and greater works than these shall he do; be- 
cause I go unto my Father.” 

Do you want to know what Christ is ready 
to do for you and in you, and through you? 
Then follow him in memory as he crossed the 
Judean hills, taught in the temple courts, healed 
the sick, fed the multitudes, trained his disci- 


Another Comforter | 29 


ples, and everywhere brought peace, and hope 
and more abundant life. At a marriage feast 
he can give added joy, in the shadowed home 
he can take away the unrest and the fever of 
the soul, he can still the storms that threaten, 
he can give sight to the spiritually blind, he 
offers living water to unsatisfied thirsting 
hearts, he even dispels the shadows of the 
tomb. 

How much “greater works’ he will do 
through his disciples, than he did in the days 
of his flesh, is intimated when we see his fol- 
lowers filled with his Spirit at Pentecost. 
Surely Peter had preached before, but never 
with such astounding power; the man who in 
cowardice had feared to confess his Lord be- 
fore a serving-maid, now boldly rebukes a mul- 
titude; he who stumbled at the mention of the 
cross, and could not believe in resurrection, now 
preaches a crucified and risen Christ; he who 
hesitated to enter again upon the work of an 
apostle, now so preaches that on a single day 
three thousand souls are saved. 


The special “help” that Christ has been giv- 
ing, and the more particular work promised of 


30 The Spirit of Christ 


“The Comforter,’ was in relation to spiritual 
truth. Christ had been revealing the nature 
and the redeeming love of the Father, hence- 
forth, in turn, the Spirit will reveal the glory 
of the Son. The “Comforter” is designated as 
the “Spirit of Truth,” his office will be to guide 
the disciples “into all the truth,” he will bring to 
their remembrance the teachings of Christ, he 
will show them things to come, he will testify 
of Christ, and by his power followers of Christ 
will bear witness for their Master, will “‘con- 
vict the world” by their testimony, and will 
glorify Christ by their proclamation of his 
word. 

It is proper, therefore, that in speaking of 
the work of the Comforter, we should empha- 
size the power he gives for public service in 
preaching the Gospel; however, we should not 
forget that he is quite as ready to give us help 
in all other spheres of activity and experience, 
particularly to secure for us growth in grace 
and patience in suffering. 

As Christian ministers, at home and abroad, 
our supreme need to-day is a new enduement 
of the Spirit. We need exactly that which 
Christ our Lord most emphasized as he spoke 


Another Comforter 31 


of the work of the Comforter ; we need his help 
to interpret anew the message of the Master, 
and we need unction in delivering this message 
to men. 

More culture, more eloquence, more mental 
discipline, more knowledge, may well be desired 
and sought, but the essential conditions of a 
successful ministry are that understanding of 
truth, that sympathy with souls, that persua- 
siveness in speech, that quickening and vivify- 
ing of the inner life, which only the Spirit of 
Christ can give. For the minister of Christ 
there is no phase of his experience at once more 
thrilling and more humbling than when he 
realizes what may be called “the divine element 
in preaching.” The preparation has been 
made, the hour has arrived, the audience is be- 
fore him, and then he casts himself on the grace 
and power of an unseen Helper, and he feels 
that virtue is going forth which is not his own, 
and that results are being accomplished which 
by himself he never could achieve. 

By many, such an experience may be re- 
garded as mystical and unreal; but let it at once 
be insisted that this definite dependence upon 
the help of the Comforter is not confined to the 


oo The Spirit of Christ 


preacher or to the pulpit; it is possible and is 
being experienced in every sphere and task of 
life. In the kitchen of a monastery, in the busy 
store or street, in the class at Sabbath School, 
in the factory amid the roar and clatter of ma- 
chines, in the home with its burdens of domestic 
cares, in the study or on the sea, wherever a 
trusting soul is looking to Christ for grace, 
there his Spirit is present to give success to the 
humblest task and to cast about it a halo of 
gladness and of glory. 


The Comforter secures growth in grace as 
well as fruitfulness in service. In fact these 
are vitally related. Many of us are unsuccess- 
ful in service just because of our unforgiving 
spirits, our unlovely characters, our indolence, 
our pride, our envy, our ill-will, our selfishness, 
our bitterness, our lack of sympathy and love. 

Some Christian workers pray for a “bap- 
tism for service,” or for “an enduement of 
power,’ which they commonly suppose would 
result in greater eloquence or persuasiveness in 
public speech, when what they really need is a 
work of grace whereby their tempers would be 
transformed, and their dispositions sweetened, 


Another Comforter 99 


and their personalities made more attractive. 
We should remember that the “fruit of th 
Spirit” is said to be, not eloquence, but “love, 
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, 
faithfulness, meekness, self-control.” 

These virtues are not mere matters of in- 
heritance or of self-discipline; they are also 
divine bestowals, and should be sought by us 
all, in conscious dependence upon the Spirit of 
God, and as personal possessions, quite apart 
from the fact that they may better qualify us 
for service. 

Their development is bitterly opposed by 
“the flesh,” that is by those natural appetites, 
and passions, and tendencies and evil desires 
which are active and powerful in our lives and 
against which the Spirit must strive, “For the 
flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit 
against the flesh . . . that ye may not do the 
things that ye would.”’ Even we Christians are 
“quite capable of producing “the works of the 
flesh” which Paul pictures under various forms 
of unlawful love and of unrighteous hate. If, 
instead of these, we desire to manifest ‘‘the 
fruit of the Spirit,’ we must obey his bidding, 
we must let him perform for us his first work 


34 The Spirit of Christ 


as a Comforter, which is to keep in our re- 
membrance the realities concerning Christ. The 
mind cannot entertain two subjects at the same 
time. If, therefore, we more resolutely and 
constantly think of those things which are 
“true and honest and just and pure and lovely 
and of good report,” we shall find “the flesh” is 
losing power, and the ground is being prepared 
for “the fruit of the Spirit.” Whatever the 
process of growth in grace or of the develop- 
ment of Christian character, the ultimate power 
is that of the Spirit of Christ: 
“And every virtue we possess 
And every victory won, 


And every thought of holiness, 
Are his alone.” 


He is also, in the most popular sense of the 
word, a “Comforter”; it is an important and 
even an essential part of his work to give con- 
solation and peace and gladness to heavy and 
bleeding and broken hearts. At the very time 
when the Master first referred to his Spirit as 
“Another Comforter,” he was endeavoring to 
console his disciples by assuring them of the 
abiding presence and the work of his Spirit. 
They were saddened by the dark shadow of a 


Another Comforter Bh 


coming separation. For this reason sorrow had 
filled their hearts. Then to cheer them, the 
Master gave the blessed assurance that, as an 
unseen Presence, he would come and would 
abide with them, and that his Spirit would 
bring to their remembrance the truths he had 
taught, so that they would enjoy a peace such 
as the world cannot give, so their hearts need 
not be troubled and they need not be afraid. 

Such too is the ministry of the Comforter 
to-day. He brings cheer to saddened hearts. 
He does this by revealing new objects of affec- 
tion, new tasks, new possibilities of joy, and 
supremely, by taking the great truths concern- 
ing Christ and occupying the soul with higher 
aspirations and hopes, with desires to be of 
present helpfulness and service, and with 
glimpses of future glory; so that the tears are 
dried, the deepest shadows dispelled, and the 
soul dwells in the sunlight of the presence of 
the Lord. 

“O grant us light, in grief and pain 
To lift our burdened hearts above, 


And count the very cross a gain, 
And bless our Father's hidden love.” 





III: Filled with the Spirit 


“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” 
Acts 2:4. REVISED VERSION 


“And when they had prayed, the place was 
shaken whereim they were gathered together; 
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and they spake the word of God with boldness.” 

Acts 4: 31. REVISED VERSION. 


“Be not drunken with wine, wherein ts riot, 
but be filled with the Spirit.” 
Ephesians 5: 18. REVISED VERSION. 


ITI: Filled with the Spirit 


To be filled with the Spirit is to be under his 
dominance, guidance, power and control; and 
to be thus “filled” is a normal condition for 
every follower of Christ. 

It is not commonly so considered, but is de- 
scribed as a mystical or mysterious state, se- 
cured by a pilgrimage to some spiritual Mecca, 
or attained by certain intricate processes of 
personal discipline, and enjoyed by only the fa- 
vored few. Rather, it should be regarded by 
all Christians as a perfectly natural and fa- 
miliar experience, or surely as an ideal state 
toward which as a goal each one can make 
continual approach. 

Instead of being obscure and baffling, the 
matter is so simple that as we awake each morn- 
ing and yield ourselves to the service of our 
Lord, we should expect him to keep us and 
guide us and strengthen us to do his holy will; 
for the Spirit of Christ not only is present with 


every follower of Christ, and for every possible 
39 


40 The Spirit of Christ 


experience in life, but is present in all the full- 
ness of his power. 


There need be no interval of time between 
our recognition of Christ as a personal Saviour 
and our being brought under the complete con- 
trol of his Spirit, and being thus fully prepared 
for his service. It was so in the case of 
Cornelius and his friends, and such was the 
experience of the twelve disciples whom Paul 
baptized at Ephesus; as soon as they “believed” 
they were “filled.” There is no reason why 
complete control by Christ should not follow 
immediately upon complete surrender to Christ. 

In actual experience, however, surrender 
usually is not complete, and knowledge is im- 
perfect, and obedience is slow, and faith is 
weak; and thus a long period may elapse be- 
tween accepting the lordship of .Christ and 
being filled with his Spirit. However, such a 
“Second Blessing,’ or such a “Baptism for 
Service,” has been described properly as “the 
missing half of the first blessing” ; in the nature 
of the case there was no reason for the delay, 
excepting the needless fault and failure of the 
believer. 


Filled With the Spirit Al 


Nor need the state be interrupted. It is 
possible to conceive of one so true to his Master 
that he continually would be under the direction 
and dominance of his Spirit. In experience, 
however, being “filled with the Spirit” is not a 
permanent state. Forgetfulness of Christ, dis- 
obedience and selfishness, are frequently mani- 
fested by most of us; and these result in spirit- 
ual impotence. Then too, fresh stores of grace 
are demanded for special tasks, and those once 
“filled” may be filled again. The story of the 
early disciples is that of their repeatedly being 
“filled with the Spirit’; this implied fresh 
needs and an unfailing supply. So with us, we 
become Christians only once, and ‘by one 
Spirit” are baptized into the “one body” of be- 
lievers; but while there is “one baptism” there 
may be “many fillings.” 

Just here we may notice the error and dis- 
tress into which certain modern Christians 
have fallen. Believing themselves to have been 
“filled with the Spirit,’ they have supposed 
that the experience henceforth would be con- 
tinuous; but subsequently they have been care- 
less as to their conduct, or unfruitful in 
service; and, feeling themselves bereft of 


42 The Spirit of Christ 


power, they have become bewildered and dis- 
tressed. 

They might have been warned by the experi- 
ence of Simon Peter. Surely, on the day of 
Pentecost, when preaching with such amazing 
power, he was “filled with the Spirit’’; but he 
could hardly have been in that state when he 
afterwards went to Antioch and was guilty of 
such cowardice. and deception that he had to 
receive. a public rebuke at the lips of Paul. 
However, he repented and resumed his apos- 
tolic service, and penned his Epistles under the 
power of the Spirit. 

We must be guarded against either self- 
confidence or despair as to our spiritual states; 
and by ceaseless endeavor we should seek to 
make continuous a condition which too fre- 
quently is interrupted by sins of “the flesh” and 
disloyalty to Christ. : 


Furthermore, the results of being “filled with 
the Spirit” may be quite different from those 
one has been led to expect. We must not tor- 
ment ourselves by applying false and arbitrary 
tests as to our spiritual states. Certain minis- 
ters have supposed that by some sudden “‘Bap- 


Filled With the Spirit 43 


tism” or “Enduement,” or by some act of 
“Complete Surrender,” they inevitably would 
become eloquent, popular, famous preachers. 
Other persons have believed that the real evi- 
dence of being “filled with the Spirit” lies in 
a Pentecostal “gift of tongues,’ or in the 
ability to speak languages one never has 
learned. Still others are expecting to experi- 
ence some magnetic physical thrill, some bodily 
sensations, some ecstatic emotions, such as, 
with more or less accuracy, certain neurotic and 
imaginative individuals describe as having been 
their own. 

Far better proofs of spiritual power are 
found in the courage with which one fights a 
losing battle, in the faithfulness with which one 
toils at an obscure task, or in the meekness with 
which one bears the attacks of malice and envy 
and ill will. When one is “‘filled with the Spirit” 
he may not achieve apparent success, he may 
not win the plaudits of the crowd, he may not 
attain even the sainthood he seeks, but.he will 
secure the highest distinction and dignity pos- 
sible for man, namely, to know and increasingly 
to do the will of God. 


44 The Spirit of Christ 


Instead of painful and frequent introspec- 
tion, and without teasing ourselves by arbi- 
trary tests, we should remember that, usually if 
not always, this being “filled with the Spirit” is 
an unconscious experience. When certain men 
came to Mr. Spurgeon to tell him of their 
ecstatic spiritual state, he is said to have asked 
them how they knew they had been so uniquely 
blest. “Can you not see,” they replied, “how 
our faces are shining?’ “Yes,” he answered, 
“but when Moses came down from the Mount 
he wist not that the skin of his face did shine.” 
So, when we are “filled with the Spirit,” we 
probably will not be thinking of ourselves at 
all, but will be lost in contemplating the loveli- 
ness of our Lord, and will be engrossed in the 
furtherance of his glorious work. 


It is undoubtedly true that there are those to 
whom the experience of being filled with the 
Spirit of Christ has come as a sudden and 
epochal crisis. After long years of fruitless- 
ness and failure, some secret sin has been for- 
saken; some wrong practice has been aban- 
doned, some long neglected task undertaken, 
some definite surrender to Christ has been . 


Filled With the Spirit 45 


made, and there has resulted a power in service 
never before experienced, a love for others 
never before manifested, and a peace of soul 
never before known. Such experiences may 
have come to us all, such may come to us again. 
However, in most of our lives, it is a gradual 
process to be “filled with the Spirit,’ and we 
should not be distressed if we find it so, and if 
for us the upward path is not only arduous but 
leads at times through valleys dark with 
shadows and with shame. “Heaven is not 
reached at a single bound,” and the older some 
of us grow, the more suspicious we become of 
popular short-cuts to high spiritual attainment. 
We are sure that the way to the summits must 
lead us by the Places of Prayer. We pause fre- 
quently to ask for strength and to seek renewed 
power ; we lift our eyes to the Heights and ask 
for spiritual grace; and as we linger we hear 
the sweet music of the Saviour’s words: “How 
much more shall your Heavenly Father give his 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” 

We also find it necessary to refer frequently 
to the precious Book which has been given to 
guide us. If we forget it, or keep it closed long, 


46 The Spirit of Christ 


we then lose the trail and become bewildered in 
a confusing maze of duties and desires. 

Then too, we are cheered greatly by confer- 
ring with fellow-travellers, whose experiences 
we learn to be much like our own; and some of 
them are always singing songs of gladness and 
are continually rejoicing in the presence of an 
unseen Guide. 

We are strengthened too by the blessed Sac- 
rament; and as we pause to partake of its 
sacred symbols, our Saviour breathes on us, 
and we hear him say as he did in the upper 
room in Jerusalem, “Receive ye the Holy 
Spirits 

Yet his Presence seems to us most real when 
we come upon some one who has fallen, or one 
who has gone astray, or one who seems entirely 
without comrades, or one who is bruised and 
broken-hearted and in despair; if with such we 
can share some morsel of food, if we can speak 
some word of cheer, if we can lift a burden or 
lend a hand, it is then the Master seems most 
near, as we hear him say, “In as much as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me,” and we 


Filled With the Spirit 47 


feel his Spirit is speaking to our spirits and we 
press more gladly on the upward way, 


There is one supreme condition of spiritual 
power ; it consists in maintaining a right rela- 
tion to Christ; and this relation may be defined 
by the familiar term “faith.” There are many 
aspects and manifestations of faith; at least 
three of these may be specified, namely, trust, 
obedience, devotion; and these correspond to 
three aspects of our being, to the mind, the will, 
the heart. If one is to be controlled by the 
Spirit of Christ, there must be dependence upon 
Christ, submissiou to Christ, love for Christ. 

This trust must be exercised whether we 
need strength for service, or growth in grace or 
patience in suffering. Ever and again the task 
seems too difficult, the struggle too severe, the 
loneliness too cruel; and then we remember the 
presence and promise of Christ, and as we de- 
pend upon him for strength, for deliverance, 
for cheer, the burden seems lighter, the battle 
more hopeful, the grief more possible to en- 
dure. Trust in Christ places us in vital con- 
tact with a Source of limitless power. One 
could not fail to be filled with the Spirit of 


48 The Spirit of Christ 


Christ if he lived in the sphere and the senti- 
ment of these familiar lines: 
“All my trust on thee is stayed, 
All my help from thee I bring; 


Cover my defenseless head 
With the shadow of thy wing.” 


Obedience is quite as necessary as trust. 
There are those who know nothing of the grace 
and loveliness and power which Christ is ready 
to impart, because they never have submitted 
themselves to his will. In spite of most tender 
messages, and most gracious influences, they 
still “resist the Holy Spirit” and exclude Christ 
from their lives. 

As professing Christians, however, many of 
us are lacking in power because we are failing 
to “walk by the Spirit.” In the fierce conflict 
which rages continually in our souls we allow 
the “flesh” to win, or we weakly surrender 
when the fight has but begun. 

Then, too, we “grieve the Spirit.” Paul in- 
dicates that this may be done by bearing false 
witness against our fellow-Christians, by our 
suspicion and envy and malice, and by our not 
“speaking the truth in love.” 

This is the peculiar peril in theological con- 


Filled With the Spirit 49 


troversy. Fair, frank and kindly discussion of 
divergent views is stimulating and helpful, but 
bitterness, dogmatism and temper are destruc- 
tive of spiritual power. In debating Christian 
doctrines, more than in any other form of 
effort, one needs a vein of humor, common 
sense and brotherly love. The injunction of 
the apostle is sadly needed to-day: “Putting 
away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with 
his neighbor. . . . Let no corrupt speech pro- 
ceed out of your mouth. .. . And grieve not 
the Holy Spirit of God. . . . Let all bitterness, 
and wrath and anger, and clamor and railing 
be put away from you, with all malice; and be 
ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiv- 
ing each other, even as God also in Christ for- 
gave you.” 

Further, Paul has given us the injunction: 
“Quench not the spirit.” This may be a refer- 
ence to the gifts for public testimony symbol- 
ized on the day of Pentecost by the “tongues 
of fire’; and the warning may be against 
neglect or abuse of our opportunities or abili- 
ties to testify for Christ, or against failing to 
act in accordance with the promptings and pro- 
visions of the Spirit in the sphere of service. 


50 The Spirit of Christ 


Thus it may be possible to “resist,” to 
“srieve,’ or to “quench” the Spirit; and evi- 
dently those who would be “filled with the 
Spirit” must be ready, at all times and in all 
things, to obey the Spirit. 

However, faith may be expressed not only in 
terms of trust and obedience but also of devo- 
tion. The promise-was, that the chief purpose 
and task of the Comforter would be to glorify 
Christ. ‘He shall glorify me,” was the great 
word of the Master. If, therefore, one is sin- 
cerely seeking the glory of his Lord, he is 
moving along the very line of the Spirit’s oper- 
ation and he can be sure of being under his 
increasing control. 

We are tempted to seek spiritual power for 
selfish ends, that we may secure for ourselves 
prominence, position, praise, success. As to 
this, we often deceive ourselves. If we would 
be ‘‘filled with the Spirit,” let us fix our eyes 
upon Christ, and abandon ourselves to his will, 
and ask that he may use, for the glory of his 
name and for the advancement of his cause, our 
service, our virtues, our very loss and pain. 

Y The truth might be expressed in this way: We 


Filled With the Spirit 51 


do not need more of the Spirit of Christ; we 
need to let the Spirit of Christ have more of us. 


“Holy Spirit! all-divine 
Dwell within this heart of mine; 
Cast down every idol throne, 
Reign supreme and reign alone.” 


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IV: Pentecost 


“Now on the last day, the great day of 
the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If 
any man thirst, let him come unto me and 
drink. He that believeth on me, as the 
scripture hath said, from within him shall 
flow rivers of ving water. But this spake 
he of the Spirit, which they that believed 
on him were to receive: for the Spirit was 
not yet given; because Jesus was not yet 
glorified.” 

John 7: 37-39. REVISED VERSION. 


“And when the day of Pentecost was 
now come, they were all together in one 
place. And suddenly there came from 
heaven a sound as of the rushing of a 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting. And there ap- 
peared unto them tongues parting asunder, 
like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of 
them. And they were all filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other 
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance.” Acts 2: 1-4. REVISED VERSION, 


IV: Pentecost 


The first Day of Pentecost after the resur- 
rection of Christ marks an epoch in the history 
of the world. For centuries this annual feast 
had been observed as a harvest festival, but on 
this particular day events occurred which ful- 
filled its prophetic symbolism, and which con- 
tinue to be of deep significance to all the people 
of God. 

On this day the ascended Christ, by his 
divine Spirit, so empowered his disciples that as 
a result of their testimony three thousand souls 
were added to their number, and, under the 
influence of this same Spirit, all the believers 
were bound into a brotherhood which was char- 
acterized by gladness and peace and joyfulness 
and love, and which, as the Church of Christ, 
was to become the most important institution 
on earth. In Christ, in the glorified Christ, in 
the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ, the 
“Problem of Pentecost’’ is solved. 


There is such a “Problem.” If the Holy 
55 


56 The Spirit of Christ 


Spirit always has been in the world, how can it 
be said that he ‘‘came,” or was “‘sent,’ or was 
“siven’ at Pentecost? What did our Saviour 
mean by saying, “I will pray the Father and 
he shall give you another Comforter,” “TI will 
send him unto you,” “When the Comforter is 
come ... he shall bear witness of me’? How 
could he give “commandment through the Holy 
Spirit” that his disciples should wait in Jeru- 
salem for the coming of the Holy Spirit? How 
could he say to men, already “born of the 
Spirit” and sanctified by the Spirit, “Ye shall 
receive power after that the Holy Spirit is 
come upon you’’P 

The problem may be stated in other phrases 
by asking, In what way did the operation of the 
Holy Spirit before Pentecost differ from his 
operation since the Day of Pentecost? How 
does the doctrine of the Holy Spirit differ in 
the Old Testament and in the New? 

To these questions many discordant answers 
have been given, most of which are imperfect 
because failing to center the thought upon the 
glorified Christ. One hardly appreciates the 
reality and the difficulty of the problem until 
he glances through the mass of literature which 


Pentecost 57 


has been produced on the subject of the “Holy 
Spirit,’ even from the days of Calvin and 
Owen to those of Kuyper and Swete. 

Many of these writers lose sight of the fact 
that such phrases as ‘Holy Spirit,’ and “Spirit 
of God” have different meanings in the Old 
Testament, and in the New, so that it is mis- 
leading to quote, without discrimination, Old 
Testament passages containing these phrases 
as though they were equivalent to apparently 
similar statements in the New. 

In the earlier dispensation men were being 
taught to believe in One God as opposed to the 
many gods of the heathen; under the new dis- 
pensation we have learned to trust in a Tri-une 
God, manifested as Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit. In the Old Testament “Holy Spirit” 
commonly designates a divine energy, in the 
New Testament, a divine Person; before Pen- 
tecost, the phrase denoted “God acting,” or 
“the efficient energy of God,” since Pentecost 
it denotes a divine Being inseparable from the 
Son of God. We are not to intimate for a 
moment any change in the being of God, nor in 
the office of his Spirit or in the sphere of his 
operation; the change is in the significance of a 


58 The Spirit of Christ 


phrase which has become possible and neces- 
sary because of the revelation of God in the 
Person and work of Christ. 


Some writers teach that, on the Day of Pen- 
tecost, the work of the Holy Spirit actually 
began, in fact that he then “came into the 
world,” so that Pentecost is literally the day of 
his Advent. This is indeed a popular belief. 
It might be supported by the words quoted 
from Luther: “While the Holy Spirit was in 
heaven before Pentecost, he did not enter into 
his office until the Day of Pentecost.” 

Whether or not this was the meaning of the 
Reformer, there is no mistaking the words of 
Olshausen: ‘The working of the Godhead un- 
der the Old Testament was that of the Son, 
That of the Holy Ghost began with the Feast 
of Pentecost.” 

On the contrary, while the Old Testament 
may not distinguish different “Persons” in the 
Godhead, such ‘‘Persons” ever have existed, 
and the Holy Spirit was operating as truly be- 
fore as he has been since Pentecost. He has 
always been exercising divine energy in the 
world. He moved upon the primal chaos and 


Pentecost 59 


was one with the Creator God; he gave new life 
and holiness and comfort to all the saints of 
old; he empowered prophets and priests and 
kings for their special tasks; he inspired men 
to predict the appearing of Christ; he filled 
with courage and strength the great Fore- 
runner John. When the Saviour appeared, he 
too was filled with the Holy Spirit, to whom he 
attributed his mighty works, and when he rose 
from the dead he breathed upon his disciples as 
a sign that the Spirit would be imparted to 
them more fully, and it was, indeed, “through 
the Holy Spirit,” and before Pentecost, that he 
gave them his parting command. 

Pentecost, therefore, did not mean the 
literal entrance of the Holy Spirit into the 
world, but such a new manifestation of divine 
power, and such a glorifying of the Person and 
work of the incarnate Son, as to justify such 
figures of speech as our Saviour used when he 
declared that the Spirit would “come,” would 
be “sent,”’ would be “given.” 

Thus when we pray with the church of the 


ages, 
“Vent, Creator Spiritus” 
(“O Holy Ghost, Creator, come.’”’) 


60 The Spirit of Christ 


we too are using a figure of speech by which 
we really ask, not that the Holy Spirit may 
“come” to us, but may be manifested in us and 
through us with new power. 


Then too there are those who teach that 
while before Pentecost the Holy Spirit was in 
the world, yet his presence and gifts were 
eranted “only to exceptional persons,” specifi- 
cally to prophets and priests and kings and 
others who held some public or official position; 
but that “since Pentecost he has been granted 
to all believers without distinction as to age or 
sex or rank or class.” 

The latter is indeed true; the Holy Spirit is 
with every believer; but so he always has been; 
and in the same sense; and to accomplish the 
same work. In Old Testament times the most 
obscure and humble and imperfect child of 
God, “without distinction as to age or rank or 
class,” had with him always the Spirit of God, 
who was doing for him what the same Spirit 
does for us to-day. 

Dr. Kuyper rightly insists, “To the Holy 
Spirit all Old Testament believers owed re- 


Pentecost > | 61 


generation, sanctification, illumination, com- 
fort.” 

Undoubtedly certain men of old were 
granted peculiar gifts for the accomplishment 
of special duties, and for this reason prophets 
and priests and kings were anointed to indicate 
that special grace and power would be given 
for particular tasks. Yet this is quite as true 
to-day; for particular tasks and for peculiar 
trials there are special bestowals of divine 
grace; but this is in conformity with the truth 
that, in all ages, all the people of God have had 
the presence and power of the Spirit of God to 
enable them to accomplish in each several life 
the will of God. The mistaken belief that be- 
fore Pentecost the gift of the Spirit was “ex- 
ceptional” and since Pentecost has been “uni- 
versal,” is based largely upon the prophecy 
quoted by Peter: 

“And it shall be in the last days, saith God 

I wall pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh.” 
As a matter of fact, the outpouring was not 
universal on the Day of Pentecost. It was 
local and partial. Three thousand believed, but 
even in Jerusalem uncounted thousands were 
unaffected. It is true that a new and mighty 


62 The Spirit of Christ 


“outpouring” had begun, and that this will 
some day become universal; but what had con- 
ditioned the change, and why did the fulfill- 
ment of the prophecy then begin? 


Others still, have taught that before Pente- 
cost the presence of the Holy Spirit, although 
possible for all believers, was merely tempo- 
rary, while since Pentecost, he has come “to 
abide” as a permanent Presence. This ques- 
tionable distinction is based on the prayer of 
David, “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me,” 
and upon the promise of Christ, ““He shall give 
you another Comforter, that he may abide with 
you for ever.” 

However, David was using a figure of 
speech by which he asked that the gracious in- 
fluences of God’s Spirit might not be with- 
drawn; he had no thought that, with him or in 
any part of the universe, the eternal God would 
cease to be present. As the “coming” of the 
Holy Spirit to a believer is not literal, no more 
is the taking away of the Holy Spirit, whether 
in the days of David or of Christ. The Psalm- 
ist elsewhere expresses his confident belief that 
he never can be beyond the presence and help 


Pentecost 63 


and care of the divine “Spirit,” whether he 
ascends “into heaven” or makes his bed “in 
Sheol,” or “dwells” in the uttermost parts of 
the sea. 

As to the promise of Christ, that the Spirit 
would ‘‘abide forever,” he did not mean to con- 
trast a temporary presence of the Holy Spirit 
before Pentecost, with an abiding presence 
after Pentecost, but rather to contrast his own 
physical presence, which was about to be with- 
drawn, with his future, abiding, Spiritual pres- 
ence. This was the night of his farewell; he 
was about to leave his disciples; he comforts 
them with the assurance that while they are to 
lose his visible presence, his Spirit would abide 
with them forever. Whether before or after 
Pentecost, the Spirit of God has been an abid- 
ing Presence with the people of God. 


The problem of Pentecost is met by others 
who declare that in the earlier ages the Holy 
Spirit was ‘“‘on” believers, that since Pentecost 
he has been “in” believers; and they even argue 
that corresponding to these two prepositions 
are two contrasted operations of the Spirit, so 
that in Old Testament times he aided men in 


64 The Spirit of Christ 


physical matters but since Pentecost in spirit- 
ual experiences. “Before Pentecost,” so it is 
alleged, the operation was “external,” since 
Pentecost it has been “internal.” This strange 
contention is supported by a mistaken interpre- 
tation of the promise of Christ: “He dwelleth 
with you and shall be in you.” Here our Lord | 
was continuing his comforting farewell, and } 
was assuring the disciples that the Spirit who, 
in all his fulness, had been abiding in the 
Master, and so had been with the disciples, 
would continue to abide in all his followers. 
The promise was that the Spirit who had been 
so notably dwelling in their Lord, would hence- 
forth be manifested in them. The same Spirit 
who had been with them in the days of the 
visible presence of Christ, was to dwell in the 
disciples even when his bodily presence had 
been withdrawn. 

Those who are inclined to believe that in Old 
Testament times the Holy Spirit was ‘“‘on’” and 
not “in” believers, should note the Hebrew 
phrase in reference to Gideon, of whom it was 
said that “The Spirit of God clothed himself 
with Gideon”; then, surely, the Spirit must 
have been “within.” The distinction between 


Pentecost 65 


being “on” or “in” must not be pressed. We 
cannot thus localize a Spirit. Whether before 
or since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has ever 
been a source of inner light and strength, and 
has granted, to the people of God, grace for 
every experience in life. 


Some have thought that before the Day of 
Pentecost the “gift of the Holy Spirit’ was 
purely arbitrary, and was bestowed upon men 
regardless of their deeds or characters, while 
since Pentecost the gift has been conditioned 
upon obedience and holiness and faith. The 
usual examples cited in proof are those of 
Balaam and of Samson and of Saul. It is 
probably wiser to regard these cases as excep- 
tional, to note that there were peculiar reasons 
for the unusual occurrences in the lives of these 
men, and to believe that in the spiritual as well 
as in the physical world, God usually acts ac- 
cording to fixed laws, and in all ages, whether 
before or after Pentecost, spiritual power has 
been conditioned upon a right relation to God. 
Even to-day we are puzzled, sometimes we are 
encouraged, to see the spiritual work which 
God accomplishes through very weak and im- 


66 The Spirit of Christ 


perfect men. However such exceptions are ex- 
plained, let us not be deceived, nor imagine that 
the operations of the Holy Spirit have been 
arbitrary in any age. ‘Those who would be 
used by the Spirit of Christ must live in ac- 
cordance with the will of Christ. 


Many have supposed that the Pentecostal 
manifestations of the Spirit were essentially 
miraculous, while before Pentecost the Holy 
Spirit worked in and through natural opera- 
tions of the human mind. It is wiser to con- 
clude that any miraculous elements of the Pen- 
tecostal gift were of its accidents and not of 
its essence, and that however truly “super- 
natural’ may be the gracious influences of the 
Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, we are not 
to expect that his presence with us will result in 
marvel or prodigy or miracle or “sign.” 


The most common solution of the Problem of 
Pentecost is, that the gift of the Holy Spirit 

~ was “partial” before Pentecost, but on that 
Day it was “complete,” and that “speaking 
relatively” and not absolutely the work of the 


Holy Spirit was then begun. Thus Calvin 


Pentecost | 67 


states: “The Holy Spirit was not yet given, 
that is, comparatively speaking when compar- 
ing the Old Testament with the New. The 
illustrious and conspicuous gift was still fu- 
ture.” Quite true; but why was it “still fu- 
ture”; why was it “partial”; why had the work 
been “incomplete” so long? 


The Evangelist John gives the answer quite 
clearly; he solves for us the Problem of Pente- 
cost quite definitely: ‘““The Spirit was not yet 
given,” that is, in Pentecostal power, “because 
- Jesus was not yet glorified.” 

When by his death and resurrection and as- 
cension, Jesus had been “glorified,” then the 
Holy Spirit could be manifested in the fulness 
of his power, he could begin a work which 
opened a new era in the history of the world. 
No statement could more surprisingly dignify 
and magnify and exalt the Person and work of 
Christ than this, namely, that upon his being 
“glorified” depended the new, fullest manifes- 
tation of the Spirit of the eternal God. 

Yet this was true; and the explanation of the 
Pentecostal scenes, given by Peter, was the 
same as that given by John: “Being therefore 


68 The Spirit of Christ 


by the right hand of God exalted, and having 
received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Spirit, he hath poured forth this which ye see 
and hear.” All power in heaven and on earth 
had been given to Christ, and henceforth the 
work of the Spirit was to be one with the work 
of the Son. 

So closely were they to be identified that the 
Spirit was given new titles; he was called “the 
Spirit of Jesus,” “the Spirit of the Son of 
God,” “the Spirit of Christ.” He began to 
work with a new instrument, namely, the truth 
concerning our crucified, risen and ascended 
Lord. 

He began to develop the life of believers in 
a new and more intimate relation to God, 
namely, that of “sons” in fellowship with a 
loving Father. This was possible only when 
redemption had been accomplished and when 
the Father had been revealed by the Son. “But 
when the fullness of the time came, God sent 
forth his Son, born of a woman, born under 
the law, that he might redeem them that were 
under the law, that we might receive the adop- 
tion of sons. And because ye are sons, God 


Pentecost 69 


sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 
crying Abba, Father.” 

Then too, at Pentecost, the Spirit began to 
unite these ‘‘sons of God” into a new great 
Brotherhood, the Church of Christ, to which 
all belong who profess their faith in Christ and 
are led by the Spirit of Christ. 


For the inauguration of such an epoch- 
making work, the Day of Pentecost was pecu- 
liarly fitted, and the familiar, startling events 
of the Day are full of significance for us. It 
_ was an opportune time to begin the witness for 
Christ, for Pentecost was the most popular 
feast of the Jewish year and the city of Jeru- 
salem was thronged with pilgrims from every 
quarter of the globe; yet how much more truly 
is every corner of the world open and accessible 
for the Gospel to-day? 

Pentecost, or the “fiftieth day” was counted 
from the Sabbath of Passover week; and, true 
to the symbolism, the cross and the empty tomb 
must precede the opening skies and the Pente- 
costal gift. 

While the disciples waited in the upper room 
“there came from heaven a sound as of the 


70 The Spirit of Christ 


rushing of a mighty wind”; and the heavenly 
influences of the invisible Spirit to-day move 
on our hearts with the power of an unseen, 
mysterious, mighty force. 

“There appeared unto them tongues parting 
asunder, like as of fire’; there was no fire, but 
on each believer there rested a luminous tongue, 
_ symbolic of the fervent, zealous witness each 
one of us is expected and may be empowered 
to bear. | 

“And they were all filled with the Holy 
Spirit”; they were brought completely under 
his control, an experience often repeated in the 
case of the disciples; an experience which nor- 
mally and more frequently should be ours. 

“They began to speak with other tongues as 
the Spirit gave them utterance,” a picture of 
the many languages in which the followers of 
Christ are now privileged to bear witness to 
the wonderful works of their Lord. 

No less surprising than the “gift of tongues” 
was the sermon of Peter and the consequent 
conversion of three thousand souls, a story 
which must encourage us to believe that in spite 
of our cowardice and our imperfections, under 


Pentecost ah 


the power of the Spirit of Christ, we can be- 
come powerful and persuasive messengers of 
Christ. | 

Most astonishing of all was the life of the 
converts; their joy, their worship, their fellow- 
ship, their love were the truest manifestations 
of Pentecostal power; and we well may be re- 
minded that “the gift of tongues” and eloquent 
speech are far inferior to kindness and gentle- 
ness and self-control, as proofs of being filled 
with the Spirit of Christ. 

Most of all, we need to be reminded that, in 
a true if in a symbolic sense, the Day of Pente- 
cost continues still. We are living in that 
privileged, wondrous Day. If we yearn for 
more spiritual power, if we seek for more 
fruitfulness in our service, if we long for more 
loveliness and beauty of character, let us re- 
member that we need not wait for redemption 
to be accomplished, for Christ to be glorified, 
for the Spirit to be given. We are not bidden 
to “tarry in Jerusalem”; that for which the 
disciples waited has been accomplished. The 
Day of Pentecost has fully come. The same 
Spirit, by the same mode of operation, using 


72 The Spirit of Christ 


the same truth, is ready through us to manifest 
Christ in Pentecostal power if we are ready to 
yield ourselves wholly to him, and to trust and 
to obey. 


“O fill me with thy fulness, Lord, 
Until my very heart oerflow 

In kindling thought and glowing word, 
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.” 


V: The Inspired Scriptures 


“Of which salvation the prophets have 
enquired and searched diligently, who 
prophesied of the grace that should come 
unto you: Searching what, or what man- 
ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was 
in them did signify, when it testified be- 
forehand the sufferings of Christ, and the 
glory that should follow.” 

I Peter 1: 10-11. 


“For the prophecy came not in old time 
by the will of man: but holy men of God 
spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost.” IIT Peter 1: 21. 


“All scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and 1s profitable for doctrine, for re- 
proof, for correction, for instruction m 
righteousness.” II Timothy 3: 16. 


“When he, the Spirit of truth, 1s come, 
he shall guide you into all the truth: for he 
shall not speak from himself; but what 
things soever he shall hear, these shall he 
speak: and he shall declare unto you the 
things that are to come.” 

John 16:13, REVISED VERSION. 


V: The Inspired Scriptures 


That was a surprising and an illuminating 
statement on the part of the apostle Peter when 
he affirmed that the “Spirit of Christ” dwelt in 
the Old Testament prophets and enabled them 
to write in advance of the story of salvation, 
and to testify beforehand “the sufferings of 
Christ, and the glories that should follow.” 
The apostle intimated, at least, that the Holy 
Spirit was the Author of the sacred scriptures, 
and that his message so centered in the work 
of Christ that he properly could be called the 
Spirit of Christ. 

The same intimations may be traced in the 
words of the Master when, in promising to the 
disciples his abiding Presence, and in appoint- 
ing them as his authorized witnesses, he re- 
peatedly designates his Spirit as “The Spirit 
of Truth,’ and promises them that by this 
Spirit they will be guided into all the truth con- 
cerning himself; when, indeed, he specifically 


declares: “The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit 
75 


76 The Spirit of Christ 


whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 


teach you all things. . . . He shall glorify me: 
for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it 
unto you.” 


Such statements as these may indicate to us 
that the inspiration and interpretation of the 
Scriptures, and their application to the lives 
of believers, may be attributed to the “Holy 
Spirit” as identified with the “Spirit of Christ.” 


The inspiration of the Scriptures is the final 
explanation of their unique character and su- 
preme authority. However, to assert their 
divine Authorship is not to deny their human 
elements. That the Holy Spirit employed 
agents who worked according to natural proc- 
esses and under human limitations, is quite in 
accordance with the fact of supernatural guid- 
ance and aid, and of a controlling divine 
purpose. 

Nor does inspiration mean verbal dictation, 
or any similar mechanical process, which de- 
nied to the writers of Scripture the full exercise 
of their faculties and the normal expression of 
their experiences. The mode of inspiration is 
never set forth in Scripture, and all related 


The Inspired Scriptures 77 


theories should be held with a reserve becom- 
ing such a mystery as surrounds the method by 
which human spirits are influenced by the 
divine Spirit. 

Nor should it be supposed that the truths of 
the Bible, and that our Christian faith, are 
conditioned upon the doctrine of inspiration. 
The fact is that Christianity existed before the 
New Testament was written, and its great 
truths are worthy of our acceptance regardless 
of the form by which they have been conveyed. 
Whether or not the Scriptures are specially in- 
spired of God, they embody reliable history, 
and point out the way of salvation through 
faith in our divine Lord. 

It may be admitted that one can be a Chris- 
tian, and can accept the truths of the Bible, 
without believing that the records which con- 
tain these truths are inspired; yet, on the other 
hand, it is improbable that one who is not a 
Christian will believe in the fact of inspiration, 
for this fact is supported by proofs which are 
closely related to Christ, and it is attested su- 
premely by an inner witness borne to the heart 
of the believer by the Spirit of Christ. 

There are other proofs. They indicate at 


78 The Spirit of Christ 


least such a superintendence or guidance, 
granted by the Holy Spirit to the writers, that 
the Scriptures are properly described as “in-— 
spired,” and that too in a sense which distin- 
guishes them from all other literature, and are 
given a unique. authority, and are constituted 
an “infallible rule of faith and practice.” 
Among these proofs, mention might be made 
of the accuracy of these historic documents, of 
the dignity and sublimity of their style, of the 
matchless splendor and unfailing truthfulness 
of their teachings, and of their marvelous unity. 
Due weight also must be given to the state- 
ments which these trustworthy writings con- 
tain as to their own origin. That is to say, the 
doctrine of inspiration like any other Christian 
doctrine is not a mere human theory, but is a 
statement of what the Bible teaches as to the 
process by which it was brought into being. 
These statements are direct and straightfor- 
ward: “Holy men of God spake as they were 
'moved by the Holy Spirit.” “God ... spake 
in time past . . . by the prophets,” “All scrip- 
ture is given by inspiration of God,” or “Every 
scripture inspired of God is also profitable for 
teaching,” the reference being to the entire body 


The Inspired Scriptures 79 


of “sacred writings” known to us as the Old 
Testament. 

However, whether as to the Scriptures of the 
Old Testament or of the New, the truest argu- 
ments for their inspiration are to be found in 
the testimony of Christ, and in their testimony 
to Christ. Without doubt these sacred writ- 
ings were to him the veritable message of God. 
They gave him his weapons in the hour of 
temptation, they were his credentials as he 
preached on the Mount, their words fell from 
his lips as he hung on the cross, and when he 
arose they were his theme as he walked to 
Emmaus, or as he taught his disciples in the 
upper room. He declared that Moses had writ- 
ten of him, that “David in the Spirit” had 
called him his “Lord”; in fact, he found “‘in all 
the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” 

He declared of the apostolic writers, by 
whom the New Testament was to be composed, 
that they should be his witnesses because they 
were to be guided “into all the truth” by “the 
Spirit of truth.” The theme and substance of 
their witness was not to be universal truth; it 
was definitely limited; it was the truth concern- 
ing the Person and work of Christ.” In their 


80 The Spirit of Christ 


testimony for him their words and their writ- 
ings would be free from error, would be trust- 
worthy, would be authoritative, because of the 
guidance of his Spirit. Whether of the Old 
Testament or the New, it is true that “‘the testi- 
mony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”; and 
the picture drawn of his unique character, the 
wondrous meaning of his recorded words, the 
marvelous story of the salvation he offers to 
men, all argue that these writings are inspired 
by the Spirit of God, and deal so exclusively 
with the Son of God, that they are said right- 
fully to be the product of the Spirit of Christ. 

However, the ultimate witness to the inspira- 
tion of Scripture is that of the Spirit of Christ 
witnessing to the follower of Christ. As was 
admirably stated by a distinguished Biblical 
student in recent years: “If I am asked why I © 
receive Scripture as the only perfect rule of 
faith and life, I answer with all the Fathers of 
the Protestant Church: Because the Bible is 
the only record of the redeeming love of God, 
because in the Bible alone I find God drawing 
near to man in Christ Jesus, and declaring to us 
in Him His will for our salvation. And this 
record I know to be true by the witness of His 


The Inspired Scriptures 81 


Spirit in my heart, whereby I am assured that 
none other than God himself is able to speak 
such words to my soul.” 

The same truth is set forth in the incom-~ 
parable words of the Westminster Confession 
of Faith: ‘““We may be moved and induced by 
the testimony of the Church to a high and rev- 
erent esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the 
heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the 
doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent 
of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which 

“is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it 
makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the 
many other incomparable excellencies and 
the entire perfection thereof, are arguments 
whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to 
be the word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our 
full persuasion and assurance of the infallible 
truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the 
inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing wit- 
ness by and with the word in our hearts.” 


The same Spirit to whom is ascribed the in- 
spiration of the Scriptures must be relied upon 
as the divine Guide in the interpretation of the 


82 The Spirit of Christ 


Scriptures. As Cowper taught us to sing, it 
is quite true that 


“The Spirit breathes upon the word, 
And brings the truth to sight.” 


This “Spirit,” too, in all his operations, is so 
identified with the Person and work of Christ 
that he is rightfully called the Spirit of Christ; 
and the very term reminds us that if we are to 
understand the Scriptures, we must not only 
depend upon the illumination of the Holy Spirit, 
but must to this end submit our wills to the will 
of Christ. It is a fair question whether a ra- 
tionalist or a skeptic, who willfully rejects 
Christ, can be an intelligent reader or student 
of Scriptures. The unaided reason cannot find 
in the Bible the full revelation of Christ. 

However, it should be at once asserted that 
the assurance of divine help does not relieve a 
Christian from the necessity of careful study 
and the most diligent use of reason as he ap- 
proaches the sacred Scriptures. The Bible is 
not an easy book to understand. Undoubtedly 
much of it is plain to the most unlettered reader, | 
and even such, by earnest use of the sacred 
writings, from their very childhood, can be 


The Inspired Scriptures 83 


made “wise unto salvation.” However, as 
Gregory the Great affirmed of the Bible: “This 
is a stream in which an elephant can swim, and 
in which a lamb can wade”; without pressing 
further the picturesque symbols of the pope we 
can safely declare that most Christians are too 
content with the shallows, and too little con- 
cerned with the deep things of God, and are 
making too little mental effort in their approach 
to the Scriptures. It may even be insisted that 
“one who knows only the Bible does not know 
the Bible.” Its fuller understanding does re- 
quire breadth of culture and a knowledge of the 
discoveries of devout students. 

Possibly we have reached an era in the his- 
tory of the church when we need anew to 
“search the Scriptures,’ when we should not 
take it for granted that we know all that the 
Scriptures teach even on such a doctrine as 
that of the work of the Spirit. 

“More light is yet to break forth from the 
Scriptures”; yet in all our searching and our 
study we are to depend consciously upon the 
presence and power of the divine Guide and are 
to believe that it is, after all, the Spirit of Christ 
who “brings the truth to sight.” 


84. The Spirit of Christ 


Here, however, we need to be cautioned lest 
we expect that the Holy Spirit will make of 
any one of us an infallible interpreter of truth. 
Many modern Bible teachers and self-consti- 
tuted “Defenders of the faith” need to be re- 
minded that there are limits to their own om- 
niscience. It is a mistake to expect such direct 
illumination and such supernatural intuition as 
confers upon one the gift of apostolic infalli- 
bility. We should hardly expect to reach such 
interpretations as are beyond question or criti- 
cism. We must compare our discoveries of 
truth with the results of other students, and, 
even when we have sought the guidance of the 
Spirit, we are not to conclude that our views 
are above examination and are of the nature of 
divine revelations. 

One who attempts to study Scripture with- 
out the guidance of the Spirit or faith in Christ 
may be a rationalist, but one who depends upon 
the guidance of the Spirit without study or 
without humble regard to the opinions of other 
Christian students becomes a fanatic. 

In seeking to understand the Scriptures, we 
should pray for submission, insight and spirit- 
ual illumination, but should not neglect the 


The Inspired Scriptures 85 


work of careful research and comparison. 
While, as a result, we should not expect to be- 
come infallible, we may confidently hope for an 
enlarging knowledge and a deepening certainty 
of the things pertaining to Christ. 


Then too, we should expect the same Spirit 
by whom the Scriptures were inspired, and by 
whom they are interpreted, to apply the truth 
to our hearts and lives. This he is ever ready 
to do; it is for us to supply the instrument he 
‘wishes to employ in transforming us into the 
likeness of Christ. 

It may be admitted that the Spirit can act 
directly upon human hearts without the use 
of any means or agency; but he commonly 
employs the truth concerning Christ. We need 
daily to bring such truth into the field of con- 
sciousness by a faithful reading of the Bible. 
There is a tremendous significance in the par- 
allel passages in Ephesians and Colossians; in 
one we are bidden to “be filled with the Spirit,” 
in the other, to ‘let the word of Christ dwell” 
in us richly, and the identical, blessed results 
will follow. Unless the word of Christ dwells 
within, we cannot expect to be controlled by the 


86 The Spirit of Christ 


Spirit of Christ. If, however, we make dili- 
gent use of our Bibles, the Spirit will then 
assuredly use the divine truth to make us more 
fruitful in service, more holy in character, more 
patient in suffering. 

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in 
a mirror the glory of the Lord, are trans- 
formed into the same image from glory to 
glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.” 

“Dwine Instructor, gracious Lord, 
Be Thou for ever near ; 


Leach me to love Thy sacred word, 
And view my Saviour there.” 


VI: The Spirit and the Church 


“And he put all things in subjection under 
his feet, and gave him to be head over all things 
to the church, whichis his body, the fulness of 
hum that filleth all in all.” 

Ephesians 1: 22, 23. REVISED VERSION. 


“Giving diligence to keep the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace. There 1s one body, 
and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in 
one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who 
is over all, and through all, and in al Sie 

Ephesians 4: 3-6. REVISED VERSION. 


“And he gave some to be apostles; and some, 
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, 
pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the 
saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the 
building up of the body of Christ.” 

Ephesians 4: 11, 12. REVISED VERSION. 


“Ye shall receive power, when the Holy 
Spirit 1s come upon you: and ye shall be my 
witness both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 
earth,” Acts 1:8. REVISED VERSION. 


VI: The Spirit and the Church 


The supreme need of the church to-day is 
an increase of spiritual power. This statement 
is so familiar as to be commonplace, but so im- 
portant that it should be repeated until the 
church is aroused and some remedy is sought. 
One wise and effective line of action would 
consist in a careful study of those statements 
of Scripture which show the relation of the 
Holy Spirit to the church, and then in an en- 
deavor to make lives and methods conform to 
such truths. In those statements the Holy 
Spirit appears so related to the Person and 
work of Christ, and so uniformly as the Spirit 
who has been sent by Christ, who glorifies 
Christ, who is the Agent of Christ, that such 
a study would be a review of the relation of the 
Spirit of Christ to the Church of Christ; and, 
any faithful endeavor to act in accordance with 
the truths revealed would be certain to exalt 
Christ and to add spiritual strength to his 


church. 
89 


go The Spirit of Christ 


It would be apparent, first of all, that by the 
power of the Spirit, the church has been 
brought into being and its growth has been 
secured. On the Day of Pentecost the fol- 
lowers of Christ were united into one Body by 
the Spirit of Christ; to this Body, by the influ- 
ence of the same Spirit, three thousand souls 
were added, and ever since that day all who 
accept Christ as Lord and Master are brought 
by his Spirit into membership with his Body: 
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body.” 

As describing the church, we find in the New 
Testament many other figures of speech, such 
asa “Temple . . . builded together for a habi- 
tation of God in the Spirit,” or a “Household 
of faith,” or a “Brotherhood,” but none is so 
familiar and so forcible as the figure of the | 
“Body.” It reminds us at once that the church 
is not an organization but an organism, not a 
society formed by men but a Body created and 
indwelt by the Spirit of God and composed of . 
living souls united by faith to a living Lord. 
It follows by necessity that while organization 
may be important, while sacraments may be 
divinely instituted, while forms and rites may 


The Spirit and the Church gl 


be inspiring and impressive, yet, what is of 
supreme importance and essential to the church, 
is life, created and sustained by the Spirit of 
Christ, in those who together form the Body 
of Christ. Nothing, therefore, can be of such 
vital consequence to the church as the nurture 
of its spiritual life and the proper expression 
of this life through the activities of its 
members. 

It is further evident that the Church Uni- 
versal, or the Holy Catholic Church, is not 
made up by a union of societies or sects or de- 
nominations or churches, but by the union of 
individual believers. The spiritual life of the 
church depends, therefore, upon the spiritual 
life of each one of its members, and if this life 
is to be stimulated and strengthened, this can 
be done only by bringing individual members 
into a right relation with Christ. Any one 
Christian by inconsistency and unfaithfulness 
can weaken the life of the church, and the 
spiritual power of the entire Body can never 
exceed that which is possessed by its combined 
membership. In seeking for spiritual strength 
there is sometimes the temptation of supposing 
that this can come upon societies or organiza- 


Q2 The Spirit of Christ 


tions or churches in their corporate capacity. 
It should be remembered that the blessing de- 
sired will always depend upon the spiritual con- 
dition of each constituent member. 


This figure of the Body reminds us at once of 
the unity of the Church. It is a unity which 
now exists and which Christians are urged to 
maintain. For this unity our Lord prayed in 
his petition that his followers all might “be 
one.” In its essence this request was fulfilled 
on the Day of Pentecost. Then, by the power 
of his Spirit, that essential unity was produced 
which ever since has existed in the Body of 
Christ. It is true that the prayer of our Lord 
will never be completely answered until this 
spiritual unity has been given such a visible 
expression as will be a convincing witness to 
the world of the mission of our Lord; but prog- 
ress will be made toward such a possible con- 
summation, if the followers of Christ will re- 
member more continually and will emphasize 
more faithfully the existing spiritual unity 
which binds them into the one Body of 
believers. 

It is sometimes imagined that church unity 


The Spirit and the Church 93 


must be manifested in a union of organizations. 
This may be a desirable end; yet it never should 
be accomplished either by compromise or by 
compulsion. When, however, it is the result of 
united effort and of deep conviction and of 
common purpose, it may be a helpful expression 
of inner life and a witness to the world of the 
unifying power of the Spirit of Christ. 

It is also a mistake to suppose that church 
unity must consist in unanimity of belief. This 
never has existed among the followers of 
Christ, and is hardly to be looked for to-day. 
- However, where there is life, produced by the 
Spirit of Christ, there cannot fail to be consent 
as to certain great cardinal principles of faith, 
and these will center in the divine Person and 
the saving work of Christ. 

Much less must church unity consist in uni- 
formity of worship. Among Christians of 
such varying degrees of culture, of opinion and 
of taste, this is hardly to be expected and never 
should be enforced. It is particularly true in 
forms of worship, that “Where the Spirit of 
the Lord is, there is liberty.”” In prayer and in 
praise and in methods of public instruction, 
followers of Christ should be allowed the great- 


Q4 The Spirit of Christ 


est freedom of action and of expression. When 
spiritual life declines, then public worship usu- 
ally becomes more stereotyped, more rigid, less 
spontaneous, less joyous, less free. 

It is evident, therefore, that church unity in 
its essence is spiritual, and consists in that 
common life which is imparted to all believers 
by the Spirit of Christ, and every successful 
effort to strengthen this common life of be- 
lievers will result in closer organization, in 
ereater consent of faith and in fuller harmony 
in worship. 

Let us ever remember that there is but one 
church, one Body of Christ, composed of all 
persons who are united to him by a living faith; 
from a part of this church a true believer might 
be excluded, but never from the whole. In this 
unity let us more continually rejoice, in accord- 
ance with it let us more consistently act. 


In order to secure the growth and the edifi- 
cation of the church, ministers have been ap- 
pointed and equipped by the Spirit of Christ. 
They are represented as gifts, granted by the 
ascended Christ through the operation of his 
Spirit: “He gave some to be apostles ; and some, 


The Spirit and the Church = g5 


prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, 
pastors and teachers.” 

It is probably true that the first reference 
here is to the founders of the Christian 
Church, to whom were granted unique endow- 
ments; but, it is true to-day, that the church of 
Christ is being upbuilt by the service of similar 
leaders, and all who are concerned with the 
spiritual life of the church should take a deeper 
interest in the enlistment and preparation of 
men who can minister to the church with apos- 
tolic zeal, with prophetic insight, with evangel- 
istic fervor, with pastoral sympathy and with 
the wisdom of trained teachers. It can hardly 
be expected that the church will maintain its 
spiritual life, or that this life will be strength- 
ened, unless the living Christ, in answer to the 
prayers of his people, grants to his church an 
increasing number of servants prepared by his 
Spirit for the high office of the Christian 
ministry. 

For the further edification of the church, the 
ascended Christ granted to the members of his 
Body certain miraculous “gifts.” These were 
of many kinds and presented many “diversi- 
ties of operation,’ but they were all imparted 


96 The Spirit of Christ 


by “the same Spirit.” There were “gifts of 
healing,” “the working of miracles,” “proph- 
ecy,” “discerning of spirits,” “divers kinds of 
tongues” and “the interpretation of tongues” ; 
yet all were granted to individual members for 
the common benefit of the whole Body. It is 
now believed that these supernatural gifts have 
been withdrawn, but that in their places, to 
each member of the Body of Christ, certain 
talents, graces, abilities are given which are 
to be used for the edification of the church; and 
the rules, in accordance with which the “gifts” 
to the early church were exercised, should con- 
trol the followers of Christ in the employment 
of all gifts and talents to-day. 

It should be remembered as Paul taught the 
Corinthians, that those who possess prominent 
gifts should feel no pride and should not de- 
spise those members of the church who are less 
favored. On the other hand, believers who 
seem to be lacking in talents and in opportuni- 
ties for Christian service, should not envy those 
who are more favored, and should not imagine 
that in the common life of the church they them- 
selves have no work that they can do and no 
place which by necessity they must fill. The 


9d 66 


The Spirit and the Church 097 


supreme lesson of the apostle, however, is em- 
bodied in his magnificent panegyric on “love,” 
when he insists that, unless it is exercised with 
the humility and sympathy and self-forgetful- 
ness of true “charity,” no gift will be of benefit 
either to the believer or to the united church, 
and that when all gifts have failed and have 
been forgotten, love will continue to abide. 
Among the Corinthian Christians, the one 
gift most coveted was that of the ability “to 
speak with tongues” ; and in modern times there 
has been a revival of the desire for this same 
spectacular gift. Whether or not “the Gift of 
Tongues” is ever granted to anyone in the pres- 
ent day, is a question of fact to be established 
by evidence. However, it may be said not un- 
kindly that most persons who have claimed the 
gift in modern days, or who urge their fellow 
Christians to seek such a gift, have been im- 
pelled by wrong motives and have advanced 
theories contrary to Scripture. The modern 
“gift of tongues” has usually been sought, not 
for the purpose of edifying the Body of 
Christ, but for self-gratification, or as a proof 
that the recipient of the gift was “filled with 
the Holy Ghost.” Such a test of spiritual life 


98 The Spirit of Christ 


is arbitrary, and the alleged Pentecostal gifts 
have not proved to be of wide spiritual benefit, 
but usually have been the occasion of misunder- 
standing, of divisions, of fanaticism and dis- 
repute. Paul urged the Corinthians to greatly 
prefer the gift of “prophecy,” or the ability to 
communicate spiritual truth in a manner intelli- 
gent to all hearers and in common language; 
and he insisted that both these gifts, like the 
others which were granted in that early day, 
must be exercised in love. 


The growth of the church and its edification 
are both intended to lead to spiritual maturity. 
To this end the ministry was ordained and 
special gifts were granted. They looked to a 
time when we shall “all attain unto the unity of 
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 
God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” 

The apostle points out two signs of spiritual 
childishness. The first is a temper making for 
strife and competition and separation. “De- 
nominations” may serve some temporary pur- 
pose, but ‘“denominationalism,’ marked by 
pride and narrowness and bigotry, is always a 


The Spirit and the Church 99 


hindrance to spiritual growth. Divisions in 
the body of Christ make for spiritual weakness 
and impotence; and a man who is factious, and 
causes separations among Christians, always 
retards the growth and edification of the 
church. 

Another sign of spiritual immaturity is in- 
stability of conviction or uncertainty as to 
what and why one believes, or inability to with- 
stand the currents of doubt and the assaults of 
unbelief. Paul intimates that mature Chris- 
tians will “be no longer children, tossed to and 
fro and carried about by every wind of doc- 
trine.” Surely the modern church has shown 
itself peculiarly susceptible to the influence of 
resurrected heresies and religious charlatans 
and doctrinal fads and fallacies. Spiritual ma- 
turity is manifested not in dogmatism, but in 
confident and abiding faith. 

Such growth toward maturity is secured, ac- 
cording to the apostle, by “speaking the truth 
in love.” Acrimonious discussions, unfair 
criticisms, unfounded accusations, are all child- 
ish; but a sympathetic, intelligent and loving 
presentation of our faith meets with respect, 


ss 


100 The Spirit of Christ 


awakens confidence and wins adherents to our 
beliefs. ; 

The other condition of such growth is de- 
scribed as consisting in a right relation to 
Christ, in devotion and loyalty and trust 
toward him. A man who is lacking in depth of 
conviction, or one who is bitter toward his 
fellow-believers, shows that he is out of fellow- 
ship with our Lord and is not controlled by his 
Spirit. 

A church which would develop in spiritual 
power and maturity must “grow up in all 
things into him, who is the head, even Christ.” 
A right relation to him cannot but result in 
“the increase of the body unto the building up 
of itself in love.” 


Nothing so definitely makes for both the ma- 
turity and the growth of the church as does a 
determined effort to accomplish its supreme 
purpose and task. This task is that of wit- 
nessing for Christ, and those who are engaged 
in this work and are seeking to labor harmo- 
niously with their fellow-believers will never 
fail to be empowered by the Spirit of Christ. 
Our Lord gave at once a promise and a com- 


The Spirit and the Church 101 


mand when he declared “Ye shall receive 
power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: 

and ye shall be my witness both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth.” The church is a 
witnessing body. The burden of its testimony 
is the truth concerning the crucified, risen and 
ascended Christ. The power for its task comes 
from the Spirit of Christ which he ever be- 
stows upon those who are faithful to him and 
are seeking to fulfill his work. 

If his Spirit is in control, this witness will be 
pressed forward into all the world. There is 
nothing provincial, narrow or selfish in the 
vision and in the plans of a spiritual church. 
The work begins at home; but the effort con- 
tinually widens and all nations are included in 
its scope. This is implied in the promise of the 
Master, “Ye shall receive power . . . ye shall 
be my witnesses . . . unto the uttermost part 
of the earth.” We must not expect the power 
of Christ if we reject the program of Christ. 

A new outpouring of the Spirit upon the 
church might make our present missionary 
plans seem puerile, our benevolence budgets 
painfully insufficient, our missionary establish- 


— 


102 The Spirit of Christ 


ments and salaries and equipment pitifully in- 
adequate, our personal luxuries and indulgen- 
ces and selfishness sadly discreditable, but it 
would thrill us with a new vision of the power 
of Christ; it would stir us with a new sympathy 
for the deepest needs of mankind, and it would 
inspire us to press forward joyfully into all the 
world as witnesses for our living Lord. 


It may be true that the tides of faith and of 
spiritual power have ebbed and are running low. 
We do see too distinctly the reefs which sepa- 
rate us into narrowing channels of life and 
effort. We hear the voices of many prophets 
who speak only words of bitterness and despair, 
who re-echo “‘the note of eternal sadness” and 
the cheerless moaning of the bar, and who point 
to great Christian enterprises which, like ships 
aground, are listing helplessly in the shallows; 
but our faces are turned with confidence 
toward our divine and exalted Lord. We be- 
lieve that “all power” has been given to him 
“an heaven and in earth.” We look expectantly 
for “his appearing and his kingdom,” and with 
new resolution, we address ourselves to the task 
in which his church should be united, believing 


The Spirit and the Church 103 


that the spiritual tides will turn and will carry 
us on resistlessly as we move forward on our 
glorious mission to proclaim his gracious gospel 
in all the world and unto every creature. 

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding 
abundantly above all that we ask or think, ac- 
cording to the power that worketh in us, unto 
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus 
throughout all ages, world without end. 
Amen.” 





VII: The Spirit and the World 


“] tell you the truth: It is expedient 
for you that I go away; for if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come 
unto you; but 1f I go I will send him 
unto you. And he, when he ts come, 
will convict the world im respect of 
sin, and of righteousness, and of 
judgment: of sin, because they believe 
not on me; of righteousness, because 
I go to the Father, and ye behold me 
no more; of judgment, because the 
prince of this world hath been 
judged.” 

John 16: 7-11, REVISED VERSION. 


VII: The Spirit and the World 


As to the relation sustained by the Holy 
Spirit to the world, the New Testament Scrip- | 
tures are surprisingly silent. Unquestionably 
the Spirit of God pervades all space, is inde- 
pendent of time, and is one with the Father 
and the Son as Creator of all being and Lord 
of all life; yet with this so called cosmic opera- 
tion of the Spirit, the Gospel writers are not 
concerned. Their interest centers upon the 
saving work of Christ, and in this connection 
there is one statement of a world-wide work of 
the Spirit that is of supreme importance. It 
fell from the lips of the Master in promising 
that when the Comforter came he would “con- 
vict the world in respect of sin and of right- 
eousness, and of judgment.” 

Evidently Jesus here used the word “world” 
not in a physical but in an ethical sense; he re- 
ferred, indeed, to mankind, but to mankind as 
alienated from God, as opposed to God and in 
need of the saving grace of God. This 


107 


108 The Spirit of Christ 


“world,” of which the Spirit of Evil is pic- 
tured as “the prince,” is the world which is to 
be convicted by the Spirit of God. 

The word “convict” is also translated “re- 
prove,” or “rebuke”; but the Spirit, as pre- 
dicted by Christ, not only was to “reprove” or 
to “charge with guilt,” but to “convict,” that 
is to prove the world guilty. 

The word is also rendered “convinced”; but 
this would mean that the world was to be 
brought by the Spirit to see and to admit its 
fault, and this is rather more than our Saviour 
here intended to predict. Not all who were to 
be proven guilty would be ready to admit and 
to confess their guilt. Nevertheless, it must 
be remembered that the work of the Spirit was 
designed to be a work of grace, and as the 
Father “sent not his Son into the world to 
condemn the world, but that the world through 
him might be saved,” so the Son was to send 
his Spirit into the world not merely to convict 
the world, but that the world might be brought 
to repentance and faith and life. 

This conviction, whether resulting in repent- 
ance or in deeper condemnation, was to be in 
reference to three great realities, to sin, and 


The Spirit and the World 109 


righteousness, and judgment. The sin, first 
and chiefly, was the sin of the world; the right- 
eousness, more specifically, the righteousness 
of Christ; the judgment was to be, most not- 
ably that of the Devil, “the Prince of this 
world.” 

The “conviction” was to be produced by the 
presentation of proof, and the proof was to 
consist in three cardinal facts concerning 
Christ: his rejection by the world, his accept- 
ance by the Father, his victory over Satan. To 
these great facts concerning Christ, the Holy 
Spirit was to witness and by this witness was 
to convict the world. 

In this promise nothing was said as to the 
agents by whom the Spirit was to work. How- 
ever, the context plainly shows that these 
agents were to be the followers of Christ, by 
whom the witness was to be borne. “It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away,” the Master 
was saying, “for if I go not away the Com- 
forter will not come unto you; but if I depart, 
I will send him unto you, and when he is come 
(that is, unto you), he will (that is, through 
you) convict the world of sin and of righteous- 
ness and of judgment.” 


110 ~~ ‘The Spirit of Christ 


This passage shows clearly that it was to be 
by the Spirit of Christ, acting through the fol- 
lowers of Christ and employing the truth con- 
cerning Christ, that the world was to be con- 
victed of sin and of righteousness and of 
judgment. 


When Christ declared that the Holy Spirit 
would “convict the world in respect of sin,” he 
meant that the conception of sin held by the 
world would be shown to be false; and further, 
that the guilt of the world would be proven. 
By the world, sin was regarded as an outward — 
act, or as the breach of some formal rule, or the _ 
failure, even in the sphere of purpose and 
thought, to conform to some specified standard. 
In reality, “sin is lawlessness,’ sin is selfish- 
ness, it is rebellion against God, it is a refusal 
to submit to the will of God. Therefore, when 
Christ predicted that the Spirit would coneied 
the world of sin because it believed not on him, 
he did not mean that the Spirit would convict 
the world of unbelief; nor did he mean that 
unbelief is sin; nor yet was it intimated, as is 
commonly stated, that “failure to believe in 
Christ is the greatest known sin.” These 


The Spirit and the World 111 


things all may be true; but what our Lord 
really meant was, that the failure to believe in 
him was the evidence which proved the world to 
be sinful. Christ was himself the perfect reve- 
lation of God; therefore, to reject Christ was to 
oppose God and was to demonstrate the fact 
that the world was at enmity with God. 

Christ is still the Touch-stone of character. 
When he, in whom God was incarnate, is 
clearly presented, then the soul which rejects 
him is self-condemned and is shown to be op- 
posed to perfect goodness and love, and to be 
alienated from God. There is a moral element 
in unbelief. In most cases, failure to accept 
Christ as Master and Lord is not due to lack 
of proof as to his divine authority. The diffi- 
culty is not mental but moral. The things 
which keep men from Christian faith are usu- 
ally not intellectual difficulties, but secret sins, 
carelessness, or pride of intellect,  self- 
indulgence or self-conceit. These are the great 
barriers in the way of discipleship and of 
submission to Christ; and the rejection of the 
Saviour is still the fact which shows there 
must be something wrong in life and which 
thus convicts men of sin. “This is the con- 


112 The Spirit of Christ 


demnation, that light is come into the world 
and men loved darkness rather than light be- 
cause their deeds were evil.” 


The Holy Spirit, further, was to convict the 
world “in respect of righteousness.” He was 
to show that men failed to understand the true 
nature of righteousness, or to manifest it in 
their characters and lives. The Pharisees, for 
example, appeared to believe that it consisted 
in the observance of outward forms, in the 
performance of rites and ceremonies, in alms- 
giving, fasting and prayer. Our Saviour 
showed that it consists in submission to the 
will of God, and that it is a matter of the mo- 
tives, the desires, and the secret purposes of 
men. So- little did the world understand 
righteousness that it condemned the only 
righteous One; but by his resurrection and 
ascension, and by the subsequent manifesta- 
tions of his Spirit, the perfect righteousness of 
Christ and his acceptance with God were 
divinely demonstrated, and were forever 
established. 

The resurrection of Christ is still the unan- 
swerable proof of the justice of his claims both 


The Spirit and the World 113 


to sinlessness and to deity; and the life of 
Christ, his deeds and his matchless words, 
constitute, for men, an abiding and infallible 
standard of moral conduct; but further, they 
point to the significant fact that righteousness 
in its essence consists in such obedience and 
trust and love toward God as inevitably mani- 
fest themselves in outward life. 

There still are those who seem to feel that 
righteousness is embodied in ceremonial ob- _ 
servance, or even in assent to an orthodox 
creed; and they count themselves Christians, 
and even engage in religious activities, while 
their hearts are not right with God, and while 
toward their fellow men they are guilty of dis- 
honesty, discourtesy, envy and ill will. We well 
may be warned by the words of the Master, 
spoken in his Sermon on the Mount, when he 
declared that there will be those, even in the , 
Day of Judgment, who will insist that they 
have prophesied in his name and have done 
mighty works in his name, to whom he will say, 
“T never knew you: depart from me, ye that 
work iniquity.” 

The vision of the divine Christ to-day reveals 
to us the true nature of righteousness; but in 


114 The Spirit of Christ 


the light of that revelation, even one who has 
sought most faithfully to follow him feels like 
falling down with Simon Peter and crying out, 
“Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O 
Lord.” However, the vision is one of such 
perfect love that the believer still clings to the 
Master and asks him for needed grace, believ- 
ing that by the power of his Spirit it will be 
possible to attain the righteousness which is — 
promised to those who trust in him. 


The Spirit, furthermore, was to convict the 
world “in respect of judgment,” that is, was to 
prove the world guilty of wrong conceptions 
of judgment and to demonstrate both its reality 
and its true nature. Judgment was regarded 
by the world as a matter of the distant future, 
as the pronouncing of an official sentence, or 
the issuing of a more or less arbitrary decree. 
The Holy Spirit was to show that judgment is 
« matter which deeply concerns the present, 
and that it results from the operation of abso- 
lute laws, that it consists in the revélation of 
character, in the separation between good and 
evil, and in the inevitable consequences of oppo- 
sition to the will of God. 


The Spirit and the World 115 


This conviction as to the nature of judgment 
was to be wrought by the Spirit, as he pointed 
to the judgment of “the Prince of this world,” 
which our Saviour regarded, by anticipation, 
as already accomplished. It was at the cross 
of Christ that the Adversary massed all his 
forces; there he seemed to accomplish his su- 
preme victory; but the cross of Christ has be- 
come the very sign and symbol of Satan’s de- 
feat. At the cross his true nature was revealed 
in all its dark and hideous reality. The cross, 
too, marked the separation between his forces 
and the followers of Christ; and there Satan’s 
doom was determined and his sentence pro- 
nounced. Under the very shadow of the cross 
our Saviour could declare, “Now is the judg- 
ment of this world; now shall the Prince of this 
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all men unto myself.” 

False conceptions of judgment still exist. 
Men are even now inclined to doubt its reality 
or to regard it merely as a matter of the 
shadowy future or as consisting solely in the 
pronouncement of doom. The fact is, judg- 
ment is taking place to-day; character is being 
revealed and the issues of sin even now begin 


116 The Spirit of Christ 


to appear. To so assert, is not to deny the 
realities dimly foreshadowed amid the mys- 
teries of eternity. “It is appointed unto men 
once to die, and after this cometh judgment.” 
God “will render to every man according to his 
deeds,” and will reward each one in accordance 
with the light and opportunities possessed, “in 
the day when God shall judge the secrets of men 
by Jesus Christ.” 

Nevertheless, judgment denotes present con- 
demnation and separation and loss. It is imme- 
diate in its effects. “Whatsoever a man sow- 
eth, that shall he also reap,”’ and the time of 
harvest is not usually delayed until the dim 
future, but its first fruits are tasted in “the 
life that now is.” 

The Tempter is ever intimating that sin -will 
result in some immediate good, even though it 
be temporary. The truth is that sin and suffer- 
ing are inseparable, and for one who has sinned, 
judgment has already begun. 

However, as the defeat of Satan was accom- 
plished at the cross of Christ, so wherever the 
Gospel is preached, and whenever a repentant 
soul finds pardon and life through faith in the 
crucified risen Christ, there the witness is re- 


The Spirit and the World 117 


newed as to the nature of judgment and the 
reality of the Adversary’s doom. 


The fulfilment of the promise was begun on 
the Day of Pentecost. Then it was that the 
Spirit of Christ, speaking through Peter and 
his fellow disciples, produced the exact results 
the Master had foretold. Three thousand souls 
were convicted of sin, when they realized that 
in refusing to believe in Jesus they had rejected 
the Saviour whom God had sent. They were 
convinced of their error and they were made to 
realize the righteousness of Christ, in view of 
the fact of his resurrection from the dead. 
They were convicted of judgment when they 
saw the manifested power of the ascended 
Christ, and recognized the defeat of the agents 
and ministers of Satan who had sought to de- 
stroy Christ on the cruel cross. 

The fulfilment of the promise is being con- 
tinued to-day. Pentecost has not passed. 
Wherever the followers of Christ are faith- 
fully and loyally proclaiming the same full 

Gospel, the same results are being produced. 
There is no saving power in negations, nor in a 
mutilated and partial presentation of the Good 


118 The Spirit of Christ 


News of redeeming love; whenever Christ is 
presented in all the completeness of his divine 
Person and his atoning work, then, by his 
Presence and by the power of his Spirit, men 
are not only convicted of sin and of righteous- 
ness and of judgment, but are converted to 
faith in him, and are turned “from darkness to 
light and from the power of Satan unto God,” 
and “receive remission of sins and an inherit- 
ance among them that are sanctified.” 

His abiding Presence is with each one of us, 
for every experience of life and in all the ful- 
ness of his power. The Gospel, preached at 
Pentecost, is recorded in the Scriptures his 
Spirit has inspired, and the duty of its procla- 
mation rests upon all the members of his 
church. 

Let us prove ourselves fit instruments for 
his use, free from pride, free from self-seeking, 
free from bigotry and bitterness, seeking only 
the glory of the Lord, and then, whatever our 
station in life, whether our testimony is that of 
public speech or the more eloquent witness of 
a pure life and a loving and generous heart, 
even through us will be accomplished some- 
thing of the supreme work now being carried 


The Spirit and the World 119 


on in the world by the Spirit of Christ, who 
is one with the Spirit of God. 


“O Spirit of the living God, 
In all Thy plentitude of grace, 
Wher er the foot of man hath trod, 
Descend on our apostate race. 


“Baptize the nations; far and nigh 
The triumphs of the cross record; 
The Name of Jesus glorify, 

Tul every kindred call Him Lord.” 


THE END 











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